


You’re welcome

by Reader202020



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, In the fic there are just jack and Ianto the others are just mentioned, M/M, Minor Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Minor Original Character(s), Post-Episode: s01e04 Cyberwoman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:53:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24946423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader202020/pseuds/Reader202020
Summary: When Jack went to Ianto’s flat during his suspension, he thought that they’d end up at each other’s throats. What he didn’t expect was to have a heart to heart with the man.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Lisa Hallett/Ianto Jones
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	You’re welcome

**Author's Note:**

> Please read: I tried to stick to canon but there are also elements that are not. Also, english is not my first language so sorry for the eventual mistakes. Enjoy x

Jack had no intention of going to his house. Not after only a week. He was still mad. He always sent Owen to check on him and Tosh even volunteered to go one time. 

And yet here he was. At Ianto’s flat, in front of his door. He lived in Cardiff for a lot of years and yet he never went to this neighborhood. Honestly, Ianto lived in a crappy looking building that considering his personality it was almost unreal that he lived there.  
‘I know nothing about his real personality’ Jack thought while trying to get the courage to knock.  
“Why should I be afraid to face him when he is the one in the wrong” Jack muttered to himself.

He knocked two times and waited. He really hoped that Ianto was home and that he didn’t wake him up, it was 11 pm. His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening.

“Sir?” 

Ianto appeared at the door that was still half closed, his voice was barely a whisper and Jack could hear the uncertainty in his it. 

“May I?” He asked, even tho it wasn’t really a question.

Ianto didn’t respond, he just moved to the side of the door to let Jack in. When he did a double take at Ianto, he felt his anger immediately dissipate. His hair was all ruffled, he wore sweat pants and an oversized white t-shirt that made him look 2 times skinnier. His eyes were not red but kind of glassy like he had been drinking but not completely abandoning himself to alcohol. Well, it was an improvement since the first day of suspension, when Owen got back to the hub saying that ‘the kid will drank himself into oblivion by the end of next week’. But the thing that broke Jack was that, without his suit, Ianto really looked like his age. A twenty four years old.  
A twenty four years old that lost and loved too much for his age.  
‘Fuck’ Jack thought. His intentions were actually to vent his anger into a heated conversation with Ianto since he spent his day hunting weevils on his own and even got himself killed once. But now that he was here he didn’t want to shatter the other man’s recovery. Still he’d have a conversation with him and if they started throwing hands at each other well, it wasn’t his first intention. 

“Do you want a cup of coffee?” 

“Yeah sure” he could use something to do during the uncomfortable silences that the conversation will most likely have, and betrayal or not, Ianto‘s coffee was still the best coffee he ever tasted during his immortal life. 

Ianto led him to the kitchen and started making coffee while Jack looked around. There wasn’t much to see, Ianto’s flat was small, and there weren’t any personal possessions around, not one book or frame. There were a lot of boxes in the corner of the flat that was probably already furnished, since it was really simple and without a hint of someone else’s personality. 

“There you go” Ianto said while putting down a big mug of coffee on the kitchen table and started drinking his. 

“So...why are you here, Sir?” he said, his voice even and steady but still quiet.

“You know...just checking up on you” he tried to keep his tone casual.

Ianto raised his eyebrow.

“Owen came by this morning”

“Why am I not welcome to your house?” 

Ianto signed. “Do you really want to play games, Sir?”

Jack frowned. “What do you mean?”

Ianto had a sceptic look on his face “You never considered me more than an employee, the last time I saw you, you pointed a gun to my head” he stated matter-of-factly.  
“And ah! You also murdered my fiancé” He exclaimed sarcastically.  
“So, you ask me if you’re welcome to my house? I’m afraid not Sir, but you don’t see me complaining because I should have a bullet in my brain in this exact moment. So don’t play games and tiptoe around what happened, just tell me what do you want” he concluded while crossing one arm on his chest, while the other still held his cup of coffee.

‘Well, that went well’ Jack thought, but probably Ianto was being mean because he wanted Jack out of his house as fast as possible. However, Jack wanted to have this conversation without becoming angry at Ianto, so he drew a breath and murmured  
“I didn’t know you were engaged” 

But instead of calming Ianto, it had the opposite effect, “Well, it’s not like you asked, Sir” he replied and his voice was becoming lauder as the phrase went on. 

“Ianto, I’m sorry you’re right, we acted like you weren't in the team, we never included you and we never treated you with the respect you deserved...”

Especially Owen and Gwen was left unsaid. 

“...but you have to understand that she was not the woman you proposed to, it was an emotionless machine” 

Ianto held his gaze, but he must have seen that his apologies were truthful because he let his head drop and started staring at the floor. 

“Do you think I don’t know that, Jack?” his voice wavered “I knew...” 

Jack put the coffee down and took one tentative step towards him.

“I found her, and there was screaming all over the place, and I thought she was dead. I sat quietly next to the conversation unit while it was finishing the job, but all of a sudden it malfunctioned and I...she started calling my name. And on our way back to Cardiff she was recalling our dates, the first time we met and...Jack at first I really thought I could save her. My Lisa...my beautiful and brilliant Lisa” his eyes shot up and stared directly at Jack’s soul while they started to fill with tears.

Jack wanted to hug Ianto so bad, so he took another step closer to the man, but suddenly Ianto turned his back on him to the sink while brushing his eyes with his arm. 

‘Have you ever loved anyone?’ 

Ianto’s words floated in his mind. ‘Yes I loved people’ he thought, but during his long life was he ever in a relationship like Ianto’s and Lisa’s?  
‘I loved the Doctor, but he never loved me the same and he left me. I cared about John but never loved him, our relationship was more sexual. I thought that I found love at first sight with Angelo, but that really didn’t end well. With Estelle I was so scared to lose her I ran away and broke her heart. I sought normality with Lucia but when she found out I was far form normal she also left me. So to answer Ianto’s question yes I loved people, but people never loved me as much as I loved them.’  
And it hurt losing those people, so he couldn’t imagine, the pain of losing someone that loved so fiercely as Ianto loved Lisa. 

“I am truly sorry” he murmured. 

Ianto let out a shaky breath and turned around to face Jack. His eyes red rimmed with unshed tears. 

‘How did we end up like this’ Jack thought, so he asked  
“I just wish that you trusted me enough to tell me the truth in the first place” 

But apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say since Ianto’s face morphed form sorrow to anger in one second.

“TRUSTED YOU?” he yelled. Jack took a step back.

“The first time I even mentioned Torchwood One to you it didn’t end up good, If I recall correctly you didn’t care about the survivors and you wanted to run me over with the suv because I asked you a job!” he said all in one breath “And for the record Captain not everyone that worked at T1 were mad, presumptuous assholes that wanted to torture aliens in their free time like Yvonne Heartman. I was just a junior researcher, 90% of the people that worked there didn’t even know how serious the ghost shift were!” Ianto wiped again angry tears that were now running freely down his cheeks.

“Well those mad, presumptuous assholes killed my friend!” Jack yelled, okay so he was angry.

Ianto barked a humorless laugh “You arrogant son of a bitch” he stated “Matt and Aneola were supposed to get married a week after the battle. James, Albert and Sarah were just twenty years old. More than eight hundred people died by the hand of the cybermen or the daleks and the twenty seven survivors are now just half a dozen because they all killed themselves, and you are petty because pretty little Rose Tyler is gone god knows where and you can’t see your friend again? You disgust me Jack Harkness” 

Jack eyes widened as Ianto kept yelling at him “Stop! Stop! Stop! What are you talking about?!?” he abruptly interrupted him.

“What?!”

“How do you know that my friend is Rose Tyler?” 

“Do you think I’m stupid? I know that the Doctor is your friend, you keep telling us that you’re form the 51st century so of course it’s because of him that you travelled through time and can’t go back since he’s not on earth” 

‘Well close enough’ Jack thought, of course he couldn’t tell Ianto that he had no intention of going back to his century or about his immortality, so he went for “Rose was on the list of the dead, how do you know she’s alive?”

Ianto rolled his eyes “You’re pretty thick sometimes you know that?” 

Jack shrugged “Well enlighten me!” 

“Do you really think that UNIT or you guys would have let me go around with a conversion unit? No, of course. So I deleted the security camera’s footage. But before that I wanted to know what happened, and here he was! The Doctor and Rose Tyler saving the world...but something went wrong and Rose was going to fall into the void, just in time a guy came in and teleported her somewhere else”

Jack wanted to kiss the man. Since the battle he held more than a grudge against T1 because of Rose’s death, and now Ianto said she was alive?! 

“Are you sure about this?” Jack asked, he didn’t want to raise his hopes up.

“Why would I lie?” Ianto replied rolling his eyes.

“Ianto Jones you just gave me the best news someone could ever give me!” He said almost jumping with happiness, but his mood dropped when Ianto didn’t say anything, he was just staring at him with his stoic mask on. 

“I’m sorry about your colleagues and friends” Jack sobered up. 

Ianto just nodded. 

“And I’m sorry about Lisa” Jack continued, because she also died during the battle and Jack needed Ianto to really understand that. 

There was an uncomfortable silence until Ianto broke it by saying “I’m sorry about how this ended...but I had to try, even if at last it wasn’t her, at the beginning it was her, I swear to you Jack.” Ianto’s tone was becoming desperate “And if I could turn back time I’d still try to save her, because otherwise...because otherwise every time I kissed her, I was kissing a monster and I can’t except that. Our love was real, she was really there” Ianto was still crying and he whispered again “I swear Jack she was there”.

Jack closed the distance between them and put both hands on Ianto’s shoulders  
“Ianto look at me” Ianto met Jack’s eyes “She was never there, the first thing that cybermen convert is the brain, she was manipulating you. If you say that you’d do it over and over again then the blood that she spilled it’s on your hands.” 

Ianto was shaking and Jack didn’t know if it was for the anger or the psychological exhaustion.

“I’m not the hypocrite one in the room, Sir” Ianto said and his tone was spine-chilling. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” Jack asked surprised by the change of tone in Ianto’s voice. 

“I know that it’s my fault that Annie and Tanizaki are dead, and don’t you come at me saying that it’s not because it is. And the guilt I feel is terrible, but I’ll survive because that’s what I do. But don’t be an hypocrite saying I shouldn’t have done what I did because people died, because of my personal feelings, when you did the the same without thinking about it twice” he said in one breath with the same dreadful tone.

“What are you talking about? I’m still not following you!”  
Jack knew he was not a good person, but with his time at Torchwood he always put the safety of humanity first and his own feelings second.

Ianto scoffed and said “I’m talking about Carys, Sir. Don’t you tell me you already forgot that to save a hand you let the girl go. I know for a fact that the artifact it’s important to you god knows why, but you chose to let the girl go and around twenty five people died because of it. So yeah, don’t. Be. A. Hypocrite.” he stressed the last sentence by hitting Jack’s chest multiple times with his finger.

Jack swallowed. Okay it was true, he forgot about all those people, he learned a long time ago that he’d go mad if he thought about all the people that died because of him. 

“You’re right, but I need you to understand why I did it” he said while his throat was closing on itself. 

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Sir” Ianto replied 

“No you’re wrong I do” he interrupted him “I do because when your suspension is over I need all my teammates to trust me, and I don’t want you to think that I’d purposely put people in danger for something as futile as a hand”  
Ianto said nothing so he continued  
“It’s kind of a tracking device”  
Ianto nodded.  
“It’s a tracking device in case the Doctor returns to Cardiff, I have waited many years for him and I have to ask him to fix something”.

After that there was a long silence, Ianto turned his gaze from Jack to his kitchen table and started cleaning the mugs with unfinished coffee that was now cold. ‘He is thinking’ Jack thought. Cleaning was Ianto’s way of processing information, he has seen him doing it in the hub an awful amount of times. He was probably thinking of the cyberwoman in the basement, Jack thought grimly. 

Once again the silence was broke by Ianto that started moving from the kitchen to his little living room and dropped wearily on the couch “I’m not the one who is gonna judge your choices Jack” Jack dropped next to him on the couch “But let me tell you this” and their gazes met once more “I’m forever grateful to the Doctor for saving the world that day. But he never stopped and tried to help after he deafened the aliens.” Jack frowned “What I’m trying to say, he could have helped a lot after the battle that day...but he didn’t...he ran away. So, in a way...he’s more of a soldier than a doctor. He can’t fix everything, so I don’t want you to get you’re hopes up, because he’s not a god, he can’t do everything” Ianto concluded.

Jack held his head between his hands. Ianto didn’t know how close to home his words hit. But he had to believe that the Doctor could fix him, he couldn’t live forever. He couldn’t.  
“You’re awfully wise for a twenty four years old” at that Ianto laughed a little “Yeah it was the trauma” he said why his usual dry humor. Jack laughed “Yeah tell me about it”.  
They looked at each other and then started laughing for the absurdity of the situation. Jack admired Ianto, he was one of the strongest man he ever met, and he still wanted to fight with Torchwood after everything that happened to him.

“You’re a remarkable man Jones, Ianto Jones” he said with a smirk.  
Ianto scoffed “Oh god don’t remind me, I don’t even know why I introduced myself like that. I’ve watched too much James Bond probably”  
Jack smiled.  
“But thank you, even if I’m really not” Ianto continued.  
“Oh yes you are! You have to learn to take compliments”  
“Are you still trying to get in my pants, Sir?” Ianto said dryly but with a hint of amusement in his voice.  
Jack laughed a little. ‘You have no idea’ Jack thought. Ianto probably didn’t even know the effect that he had on him. He was gorgeous, hot and cute at the same time. Witty, funny and smart. He wanted to have sex with Ianto form the first time he saw him. Although, when he started working for him, he felt that Ianto didn’t want to go there and he settled for the playful innuendo jokes that didn’t seem to bother the man too much.  
He probably didn’t want to cheat on Lisa, he thought. ‘But Lisa is not here anymore. Stop! The man is still grieving and you are thinking about having sex with him! You don’t even know if he’s into men’ he stopped his train of thoughts because Ianto was looking at him funny. 

“You know that I’m attracted to you Ianto...no! Stop with that face you are attractive! But I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with my jokes, from where I’m from it isn’t really a problem and sometimes I forget that.” 

Ianto smiled a little. And Jack can’t remember a time when he smiled sincerely during all the time he worked at the hub.  
“Jack you didn’t make me uncomfortable, our banters were probably the only time I felt included and wanted in the team. And also I’m flattered that someone as handsome as you finds me attractive” when he said the last bit he blushed a little and Jack thought that he was even more beautiful.  
“But Jack, you’re my boss and every time I look at you I still see the gun pointed to my head a-and I d-don’t k-know if...” Ianto started mumbling “Hey! Hey! Hey! Sorry, it’s okay clam down” Jack said soothing. “I would never ask you to do something that you’re uncomfortable with” he whispered.  
At that point, to Jack’s surprise, Ianto threw his arms and hugged Jack tightly while he started sobbing “I’m so so sorry” he whispered. 

After the first moment of shock Jack hugged Ianto and whispered back “I forgive you Ianto, do you think you can forgive me?” 

After some incoherent mumbling, Ianto said “Yeah, I think I will” but still refused to let Jack go. And It’s not that Jack was complaining. He cared a great deal about Ianto, that was the main reason he didn’t kill him or retcon him. 

“Oh, and Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for saving my life” 

Images of the kiss they shared fled though Jack’s mind, and smiled a little, he didn’t know that Ianto remembered.  
“You’re welcome Ianto” 

They held each other for a while until Ianto’s breath calmed and started to doze off.  
“C’mon it’s almost two o’clock, let’s get you to bed” 

Ianto tiredly got up, went to the kitchen for a glass of water and swallowed the antidepressants and sleeping pills that Owen prescribed him, and went to bed.  
“All right, I’ll go then” Jack said, feeling courageous enough to plant a kiss to the man’s forehead.

“All right, oh and Jack?” Ianto said again.

“Yes?”

“You’re welcome to my house anytime you want”


End file.
